Layered Fabric Hair Clips with Silhouette Cameo

Hi there everybody!  I woke up at 5 this morning, and couldn’t breathe with allergies, so I decided to get up instead of risk waking up my family with my loud breathing sounds!  I finished these clips last night, and decided to get them posted.  I haven’t attached the hair clips to them yet because I need felt of the right color, but better to post them almost done than not at all, right? :)

I had seen this tutorial from The Thinking Closet last week, and instantly had to try it myself.  I hadn’t been successful in cutting fabric before with the cameo, but once I figured out that you peel off the paper of the interfacing, and stick the sticky part on the mat, it worked just fine!  I have used both Steam to Seam 2 and regular old Heat N Bond, and both have worked well for me.  So don’t stress too much about getting the silhouette made interfacing, although I’m sure it works great!  I just like to use what I’ve got.  I did set my blade to a 4 because it’s getting dull, and double cut everything.  I hopefully will get a new blade soon, and that should help it work a bit better!

I followed everything from the tutorial, but I didn’t sew the buttons on!  All those layers of interfaced fabric was just too think for my needle and thread!  I cheated and looped the thread around the button holes, and then tied a knot in the back to get the sewed look.  I glued them on with trusty E6000, and called it good! :)  The shapes and sizes I used are listed at the bottom of the page!

I made several of each fabric, and then I could make several clips.  I have enough to keep, and giveaway to several people!  The small ones are just a bit bigger than 1 inch, and will be perfect for baby shower gifts or little girls’ Birthdays.

Well, that’s all for today!  I promise I have been doing non-silhouette crafts lately as well.  I need to snap a few pictures and share, don’t I?!?  I’m thinking more of these clips will definitely be in my future.  I’m even thinking of using one as an applique on a zipper pouch!

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

Shapes Used: 

I drew a circle in the soft ware.  Sizes:  1.5 inches, 1 inch, and .75 inch

Layered Petal Flower Sizes:  I sized the largest flower to just over 2 inches for large flowers, and just over 1 inch for the small flowers.

I found a scalloped circle I have (I didn’t save this file—whoops! so I don’t know what I used).  Sizes:  2.5 inches, 2 inches, and 1.5 inches.  The 2.5 is a little bigger than I like, so I did the others a bit smaller!

Silhouette Shape Challenge: Stenciled Whale Bag

Hi everybody!  I was making this tote last night because my current church bag is seriously falling apart!  I saw this bag on MADE, and loved it.  I found the very same napkin sets at Target in a blue/green variety.  I also picked up the red pack, but that tote is still in progress…well I made it, picked it apart, and am waiting to re make it. :)
Enough chit chat----onto the finished bag!

Front before stenciling

Back of bag

I decided that the blue side would be super cute with the free whale shape from last week, and then I could enter the weekly challenge!  I fired up my silhouette this morning, applied a vinyl stencil…

Quickly painted (and even left a mess on the desk!)

Used a hair dryer to quickly semi-dry the paint, peeled off the vinyl, and Tada!

A super cute whale on a super cute bag.

I would have hung it up to get a photo, but it’s still drying! 

I used a swirl shape by Miss Kate for the waves instead of the included waves.  Overall, I love the bag and will soon fill it with all sorts of busy activities for my one year old at church!

Thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

p.s. I’m also participating in a challenge with the blog Silhouette Challenges.  Anything goes this month, so enter if you’ve made something with your silhouette! Details HERE.

Easy Button Bobby Pins

Saturday afternoon, I got the urge to craft.  I started to get out my fabric, but little Dash demanded to be held. There was no way I could sew or cut through fabric and hold an infant safely.  So I decided to use the infant carrier, and make these hair clips.  I waited until he was down for his nap to glue, and got a few made in less than an hour.  Today, my sister came over to craft and we opted to make more.  They are quite addicting to make I must say!

I used Ashley’s tutorial  from Make it and Love it to make the cover buttons without a kit.  I must say she made it super easy for me to make all sorts of adorable buttons!

Then I used this tutorial (found via pinterst of course!) from Elisa Mclaughlin Designs to attach the buttons to the bobby pins.  I think I will also use this method with alligator clips. 

I used hot glue on one batch, and E6000 on the other.  Just use what you like. :)

Well, better go save my fussy son!

Thanks for reading,

Lynette

Tutorial Tuesday: Stuffed Turtle

Hi everybody!  I hope you’re having a terrific Tuesday.  I just wanted to show you a quick picture of a gift I made for my niece for Christmas using all scraps and batting from my stash.  I had to quickly sneak the turtle away from her on Christmas to snap a picture of it.  She loved it, especially the polka dots!  I used the tutorial and template from Ashley over at Make it and Love it.  The tutorial was pretty easy to follow, and I only had to pick a seam out once (sometimes I average…a lot more than that!)

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

Holiday Crayons

Love this and have to share!  Here's a quick and easy way to make holiday crayons for your kiddos or as a gift for others.  Sew Totally Smitten shows you how here!  I will have to add this to my list for SURE!

I need a bag…NOW!

My sister graduated from high school yesterday!  Congrats K!  Last night, after the graduation bash, she proceeded to tell me that she needed a bag no bigger than an 8.5’’ X 11’’ piece of paper for their graduation activities this weekend.  The rules are strict, and they won’t let a bag in bigger than that.  Do you have any idea how SMALL that is?  My sister is picky.  She doesn’t like purses.  She likes backpacks.  So starting at 10:30 PM last night (WAY past my bedtime), I made her this bag.

The material was in my sister’s stash…perfect (and SO cute!)  She needed an inside pocket, but since I didn’t have a zipper, I made it work with velcro (pictured below).

I used the cording from a “political campaign” bag that was too big and WAY too ugly to take to a graduation party. 

The only thing I did wrong was forget to sew the bottom of the pocket!  Oops…So this (my new favorite weapon) came to the rescue.

Friends, meet Fashion Fusion…Fashion Fusion, meet my bloggy friends.

This glue is fabulous.  You can wash stuff with the glue, and even put it in the dryer.  LOVE IT.  Perfect for attaching flowers, or fixing an “oops!” missed seam. 

Anyways, the bag was super easy (I was just too tired and distracted by family to work fast).  There are several tutorials online, but I pretty much whipped this one out on my own.  If you want a tutorial, let me know!

Hope you have a fabulous day!  It’s almost the weekend. :)

Car Seat Canopy

I made this a few weeks ago for a friend who’s having a baby.  She had asked for hair bows, and I added in a little extra and made this as well.  It’s reversible, and has polka dots on the reverse side.  I did two sets of straps, so the strap set not being used can hold toys for the baby once she gets older.  I was so excited, the canopy matched perfectly with the car seat and stroller set they got!  How’s that for not planning!?!


There’s a close up, and a view of the coordinating fabric.  I just LOVE how it turned out!
If you want to make one like this, here’s the tutorial from Buzz About Baby!  The only thing I did different was add the extra straps.
Enjoy!

Tutorial: Gathered Pencil Roll

My mom teaches some of the children at my church, and she has needed something to keep pencils in.  I came up with this, and gave it to her for mother’s day.

So, it looks like a crayon roll, and you’ve seen millions of those on blog land.  What’s so special about this one?  I’ll show you!

The back has a gathered look, like this clutch!!!  Perfect for a “big person,” pencil roll.  I made a clutch (which I’ll show in an upcoming post), along with this roll.  You can make your own!  Here’s how: (the fabric is layered, so all three pieces on the left measure 8’’ X 9’’)
Cut fabric:
2 pieces 8’’ X 9’’ (one for pocket, and one for “lining”)
1 piece 13’’ X 9’’
1 piece 4’’ X 9’’ (for strip across back)1 piece fusible interfacing 8’’ X 9’’
1 piece of ribbon (I used 7/8’’ grosgrain, 23 inches long---I would recommend using longer---especially if being used by a kid!)

First, take your 4’’ X 9’’ strip, fold RIGHT sides together, sew into a tube with 1/2’’ seam.  Then turn right side out, and set aside.
Second, take your 13’’ X 9’’ piece.  On the 9’’ sides, measure and mark at 3.5 inches and 4.5 inches.  Do this at both ends of the fabric.  Then set your sewing machine to the longest stitch length in order to gather.  Sew a line at 3.5 inches, and 4.5 inches.  DO NOT BACKSTICH! :)  Then pull one string on each seam to gather your fabric till it measures 9 inches.
Third, turn on your iron!

Fourth, take your 4 X 9’’ strip and fold it so the seam is in the middle.  Press it this way.  The picture above can help you!

Fifth, attach your fusible interfacing to the WRONG side of your gathered 13 X 9 piece.  Then set the 4 X9 strip on top of the gathered piece where your stitches are.  Set your sewing machine to a smaller stitch! Sew the strip to the gathered piece, like the picture shows.

Take the 8’’ X 9’’ piece you’ll use for the pocket.  Fold it in half, so you’ll have a rectangle measuring 9 inches X 4 inches.  Set it on top of the piece intended for the “lining.”  If you folded it right, the edges will match up.  Pin the pocket to your lining.  Then, starting at 1/2 inch, mark on each inch.  You’ll have eight    1- inch spaces to hold 8 pencils, and 1/2 inch clearance on each side. (If you look closely, you can see my marks in the picture below)
On each mark, sew a line from the rough edge of the fabric (bottom), to the folded edge of your pocket (top).  Make sure you backstitch at each end of each pocket!
Ninth,  take both panels and put RIGHT sides together.  Sew around the whole thing, leaving about a 4 inch gap for turning.  Turn the material so it’s right side out, then stitch up the hole and topstitch around the whole thing.  During the top stitching, you can slip in your ribbon piece for tying the roll shut.  I attached it afterwards, but it would fit nicely in this step.

A few things I learned:  When adding your ribbon, keep it as close to the edges as possible so you don’t sew a pocket shut!  I almost did (oops!)
This roll will fit pens and mechanical pencils nicely, but if you have brand new regular pencils, you will need to make the panels a bit taller.  I underestimated when thinking about seam allowances.
You’re finished!  Enjoy!  If I left something out, please let me know!
Linked to these parties!

TUTORIAL: Crayon Purse

For Christmas, I made this for my niece

The "coin purse," is where you'll stash your crayons!

Because I was making it as I went, I really didn't remember how to make it.  I wanted to give it another shot so I can make more in the future.  I decided to go ahead and make a tutorial, so here it is!

 

 

This is the one I'll be making today.  Grab some material scraps and follow along!

You'll need:

2 coordinating fabrics (or just 1 type of fabric---you are the creator and it's up to you!)

2 rectangles of material cut to: 12 inches X 9 inches

1 strip of material cut to: 14 and 1/4 inches X 6 and 1/2 inches

1  ribbon 20 and 1/2 inches long (I used 7/8 inch on one, and a little thinner on the other one)

1 thin ribbon 6-8 inches long (I think, just eyeball it) for the ribbon to attach coin purse to big purse.

Coordinating Thread,

Scissors, sewing machine, and all that jazz

Crayons!

OPTIONAL: 1 piece of chipboard (you can use cereal box), or card stock about 8 and 1/4 inches by 4 and 1/4 inches 

velcro

 

First, take your 12 X 9 pieces, right sides together, and sew them together.  I did as small a seam allowance as I could handle.  If you know you like big seam allowances like I did when I first started sewing, then cut the pieces a tad bigger.  Make sure you leave a hole big enough for you to turn the material!

If you want to add some cardboard to the back of the purse so it doesn't fold when being held by the handle, add some of the chip board or card stock into the middle of your two pieces.  Just do a little less than a third of the size of one of the pieces.  Once you get to the step, you can slide the cardboard up or down to make it work when you finish the purse. 

(This makes little sense, I know.  If you need pictures, comment and I can take some for you.)
 

You'll have the edges sewn together, and you'll turn the material.

Then, I did a stitch all the way around the edges, being careful to tuck in the part you'd left open for turning.

 

  

(another picture to help explain what I'm not great at explaining)

The purse part is now ready.

Now you'll grab your 14 and 1/4 inch X 6 and 1/2 inch piece.

 

Fold it hamburger style to make it look like this, and sew only the edges opposite of the folded end shut. (Soo hard to explain!  Maybe that's why I included a picture!)

 

Once you've got that one side sewn, turn it so the seam is hiding on the inside.

 

Then you'll fold the material again with both folded edges together.  

When you do this, stick the thin ribbon in and sew it into one end of the pocket (leave the other end of the ribbon to attach to your purse)

(I did this the hard way, so there's no picture, but I'd suggest to do it this way!)

(This will make your pocket for the coin purse)

You'll sew all the frayed edges together, as shown.

 

Then,  you'll grab a crayon and stick it in the end of the pocket.  I measured how big the pockets needed to be, and then marked accordingly on the fabric with the same color of crayon.  It was noticeable enough to know where to sew, but not enough to worry about later!

Then sew the rest of your pockets, and you've got your coin purse ready to go.

(sorry no picture of just the coin purse, don't know what I was thinking!)

 

Next, you'll take your purse piece and fold it into thirds.  If you want to add velcro, figure out where you want it, and sew it on.  And if it's crooked like mine, don't stress!  A kid will be using it and won't notice the difference!

 

Then stick the ribbons into the folded edges so you can sew them in when you sew your purse together.  I set the ribbon for the handles at an angle so it doesn't interfere with the top of the purse.

 

Sew those ribbons in and sew the edges to make your purse,

 

And you are almost all done!

 

Cover the velcro seams with a fabric flower (tutorial here), 

 

or a bow 

and you're good to go!

(If anything is confusing, feel free to holler!)